i just joined the Larrivee fold, picked up a '98 D-03 in great shape. I've put a set of Elixir Custom Lights on it, and adjusted the truss rod so that it has a slight amount of bow to not cause string buzz. Sounds great, til I capo up around the 3rd fret. Then the E and A strings go out of tune. the D-G-b-e seem to be fine.

I don't have a strobe tuner, but they all appear to be somewhat sharp at the 12th fret, and getting a harmonic requires fretting past the fret a bit.

Is this due to the Custom Light strings ( don't want to change yet, they're brand new), or some other problem. Neck seems straight, and action is great.

This may sound like a dumb question, but could it be the capo and not the guitar? What kind of capo are you using? With the custom lights being a smaller dia. string, the capo could be pulling/pushing those 2 strings more that the ones in the middle. If you use an electronic tuner, you can check out the intonation by hitting the string open and at the 12th fret and both should be the same.

There is a thread in the Acoustic Guitar Magazine Forum on the issue of using coated strings and intonation. Some are saying that the coating on the strings is causing intonation problems (especially as the coating wears off and starts to fray).

This makes me a bit upset, because I just bought over $100 worth of Elixur Nanos.

I had the same experience with a DV-09 a year or so ago. Bought it, took it home, stuck a capo on, then became v. unhappy with the resulting intonation problems on the "A" and low "E" strings. When the intonation problem -- and my DEEP consternation -- were reported to the company, Larrivee', bless their hearts, sent another DV09 guitar out, thinking that there may have been a problem with that one instrument. Nope; same thing.

We changed strings. We changed gauges of strings. We adjusted the neck. We held our mouths extra-special ways while playing. We moved the capo around on the fretboard. Nothing helped.

The dealer spoke to a tech somebody at Larrivee', who advised that the problem MAY not be as bad when using a Shubb capo ($45.) Wouldn't that give you confidence? No thanks; I run several guitars, and I don't really want to have several guitar-specific capos. I returned the guitar, got my refund, and went across town and bought a Taylor 814CE. No problemo with the Taylor. In fact, up until the advent of their godAWful ES system, Taylor could have given clinics on how to build and deliver trouble-free instruments...mine has the Fishman Blender, and it's perfect in every way. I tried one of the California Specials (a DV-type set-up) a few weeks ago, and as soon as I threw a capo on it, those bad memories came flooding back. Same old thing: intonation trouble on the "A" and low "E" strings. Somebody really needs to get on this problem.

I recently bought an LV09E, and there's no capo-related intonation problems with it...and believe me, I've checked it out thoroughly. I've looked and looked, and here's what I THINK may be the root: jumbo frets. Those were some big mutha frets on the dreadnaught bodies -- and they appeared to be crowned. I think that the break angle of the string over those humongous frets, coupled with the force of the pull exerted by the (Kyser) capo, conspired to pull the strings off-tune. It seems to me that the frets and fretboard on the L-bodied guitars is more compatible with the use of a capo.